The Religion Card Is Turned Face Up

On Friday, Pastor Robert Jeffress of the 10,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas took the podium at the Values Voter Summit to introduce and endorse Rick Perry.

Gov. Perry, said Pastor Jeffress, is a leader with “a strong commitment to biblical values” who defunded Planned Parenthood, that “slaughterhouse for the unborn.” He contrasted Perry with an unnamed rival.

“Do we want a candidate who is a conservative out of convenience or one who is a conservative out of deep conviction? Do we want a candidate who is a good, moral person or one who is a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?”

Perry thanked Jeffress for this “very powerful introduction” and congratulated him for having “hit it out of the park.”

By then, however, the pastor, having rounded the bases, was expatiating to an attentive press corps.

“Mormonism is not Christianity,” Pastor Jeffress asserted. Rather, Mormonism is a “cult.” The Mormons “embraced another gospel, the Book of Mormon, and that is why they have never been considered by evangelical Christians to be part of the Christian family.” In essence, Romney may be a good man, but he is not a Christian.

Saturday, Bill Bennett appeared. “Do not give voice to bigotry,” said Bennett. “I would say to Pastor Jeffress: You stepped on and obscured the words of Perry. … You did Perry no good.”

Romney took the podium to speak of America’s “heritage of religious faith and tolerance” and denounced those who would inject “poisonous language” into the political debate.

“Speaking of hitting it out of the park,” Romney began, “how about that Bill Bennett?”

The Perry campaign separated itself from the pastor’s comment about a cult. Yet Jeffress had expressed that view four years ago when Romney was running. In August, he partnered with Perry at “The Response.” His introducing of the governor had been cleared by the Perry campaign.

Hence, this episode was no accident.

As Bennett’s blast was being reported, this writer was in a green room with Pastor Jeffress, who was not backing off an inch.

Evangelicals have the same right to support fellow evangelicals as women did to support Hillary Clinton, said Jeffress. And a candidate’s religion is a valid concern, for what a person believes about God and man and morality and immorality will influence not only how he lives his life but the decisions he will make as president.

The view that Mormonism is a “theological cult” is not “bigotry,” said Jeffress, but the official position of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and, after Catholicism, the largest denomination in the United States.

Why is Mormonism a cult?

Because, Jeffress explained, whereas Christ, God himself, is the founder of Christianity, Joseph Smith, a 19th-century American, was the father of Mormonism. And the Book of Mormon is not biblical revelation.

The political problem arises with the word “cult.” To most of us, it conjures up the Rev. Jim Jones ordering up the Kool-Aid in his Jonestown encampment or Branch Davidians burning to death in Waco.

Mormonism, however, is America’s fourth-largest religion and among its fastest-growing ones. In the leadership of the nation it is well-represented. If one judges a religious faith by the precept of Christ himself — “By their fruits shall ye know them” — it has produced more than its share of healthy and happy children and families and good and productive citizens.

The Romneys appear to be the very model of an American family.

Nevertheless, politically, this is no minor matter.

Herman Cain, rising star in the GOP firmament, has said Romney cannot be elected, as his Mormonism would kill him in the South. Pressed Sunday on what Pastor Jeffress had said, Cain said, “I am not going to do an analysis of Mormonism versus Christianity.”

“Mormonism versus Christianity”?

Romney’s faith may be the reason — though he is far out in front in New Hampshire — he has been unable to expand his Southern base.

With the Iowa caucuses three months off and Romney’s being the man to beat, Mitt is likely to replace Perry as the “pinata” in the debates.

Social and moral issues — such as gay rights and abortion, where Romney’s views have evolved since he ran against Teddy Kennedy — seem certain to emerge as surrogates for the religious question.

In 2007, Romney gave an eloquent defense of his faith and the values by which he has lived his life. Today he would prefer to keep focused on his business acumen and how to create jobs in a private sector that employs 85 percent of Americans, where his credentials are matched only by Cain’s.

It is a good bet Mitt’s rivals are not going to accommodate him.

Patrick J. Buchanan is a TAC founding editorand the author, most recently, of Suicide of a Superpower. A preview from the Suicide of a Superpoweraudiobook, read by the author, can be heard here, courtesy of Macmillan Audio:

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25 Responses to The Religion Card Is Turned Face Up

The sad part is that, politically, Romney is hardly different from so-called “conservative Christian” George Bush, while Perry is culturally AND politically equivalent to Bush. All espouse the same corporatist, globalist ideology.

Like Pat said about John McCain: “The jobs are never coming back, the immigrants are never going home, and the wars will never end.”

Many questioned Obama’s religion but still voted for him and many of those who believed he is a Christian and did not support his pastor’s view also still voted for Obama. Romney should continue to say and do what will get him elected,and tell folks not to take what he says so seriously as he is just trying to get thru prinaries .He could tell the public that there is his record as a businessman and as a governor to give some idea of how he will govern if elected president It’s early yet but it seems likely Romney will get the nomination
A Herman Cain vs Obama election while a huge long shot would be pretty amazing,

Romney right now looks the most electable, Perry might actually be even more liberal than Bush on immigration which is a big issue with the GOP base. The rest of the field seems somewhere behind both although the media is often completely wrong (think Howard Dean 04′). Having Marco Rubio as the VP is a good idea since he liked by the Tea Party and is Cuban. Most conservatives care alot more about immigration than if Romney is a mormon, I think the media simply likes to portray the GOP as a bunch of religious fanatics.

The GOP should get the hell out of the religion game altogether. Religion is a private matter. And as we’ve seen over the years religious affiliation guarantees nothing as to how ethical a person is. We all have feet of clay. Most politicians are just hucksters who use religious affiliation for their own political benefit. Look at a candidate’s record not their rhetoric.

My point is that the GOP’s base is largely a social conservative coalition of evangelicals, Mormons and now Catholics and for evangelicals to claim the party is solely their own would be to inflict much harm on that coalition if not mortally wound it. If the Democrats were smart they would capitalize on this and change to social platforms that were more friendly to Catholic and Mormon values voters. That is if the far liberal social wing hasn’t completely taken over the party like it has in the urban areas of California. The dumbest things the Democratic party has ever done was to proclaim themselves the party of pro-choice and to sign on to the ideology of free trade. If they hadn’t done such things they would probably hold a strong majority in both the House and the Senate to this very day.

LOL. Hurray for my side. What’s the score, btw? I haven’t been paying much attention since the NFL season started. The reason I like the NFL is that most of the games are played on Sunday, which gives a good reason not to go to church.

What Republicans in the South must realize is that Mitt Romney (for all his globalist shortcomings) could beat Barack Obama in 2012. I doubt that Rick Perry could, as he is perceived (correctly in my view) as another George Bush. A Perry-Obama contest would probably get Obama a second term, and it is hard to image a worse outcome for this nation.

I would suggest the book ‘The Four Major Cults: Christian Science, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Seventh-day Adventism” by Hoekema for anyone who wants to understand the danger of these American based sects. My mother was a victim of the Christian Science cult and as a child I suffered lack of proper medical attention on many occusions. The 60’s saw many young people trapped in dangerous cults like Hare Krishna and the Moonies. It is not bigotry to explore this issue in depth.

re: ‘The view that Mormonism is a “theological cult” is not “bigotry,” said Jeffress, but the official position of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and, after Catholicism, the largest denomination in the United States.’

The SBC mostly likely considers the Catholic Church a cult, regardless of its official position on this matter. This probably includes a lot of other churches as well.

“By their fruit ye shall know them” – one could ponder that one a long time. The Catholic Church is definitely not perfect, but for many centuries has born some great fruit: it has been the midwife of western civilization since the decline of the classical cultures of Rome & Greece, among many other things. The Mormons and Catholics are not overly fond of each other either (the former calls the latter the Great Satan, etc.), but each in its own way has borne great fruit, as has the SBC.

Ultimately all of these churches are on the same page when it comes to fighting the growing tyranny of militant atheism, globalization, decline of our schools and artistic culture, the decline of the family, the Culture of Death (abortion, endless foreign wars), etc.

When you see them turned against each other in a political debate, it makes you wonder if there is some kind of puppet master in the background helping to create such disagreements. The point is, we all need to work together, and the name calling is not serving the cause.

This is a perfect happenstance for Ron Paul. The Mormons now won’t vote for Perry, the evangelicals now won’t vote for Romney, and each side will do whatever it can to tear the other to pieces. Additionally, Catholics also won’t like evangelical conceit, even as they perhaps agree with Jeffress’ assessment of Mormonism.

Increasingly, the libertarians are above the fray, both the fray of the worst elements of the Christian sects, and the worst elements of the socialists sects.

“What Republicans in the South must realize is that Mitt Romney (for all his globalist shortcomings) could beat Barack Obama in 2012.”

Maybe..Maybe not. A lot of regular Republicans might believe this but there are a lot of conservative who don’t, and they”re ones shopping for alternatives to Romney, even the ridiculous Herman Cain (one reason for Cain’s rise in the polls is a lot of southern orientated GOPers and conservatives moving towards Cain and away from Perry). For a “movement” which has for years relied on psuedo-populism to advance its cause, Romney is just all wrong. He looks like the guy, as Mike Huckabee said “who just laid you off”, And we still haven’t gotten to his Mormonism or Yankee background. How is all this supposed to energize the white, middle-class “base” (not just in the South but around the country) ? I can just imagine Romney flopping around the country spending most of his time trying to explain every flip-flop he’s made while the Democrats blast him as a rich, pretty boy. Romney may very well carry a South Carolina simply because its a Republican state but there wouldn’t be a groundswell for him and a lack of “base” voters may hurt the party in downballot races.

That there hasn’t been a Mormon-SBC split is remarkable in the course of coalition politics. But coalitions don’t last forever nor was it ever foreseen that Mormon would be the leading GOP candidate.

“When you see them turned against each other in a political debate, it makes you wonder if there is some kind of puppet master in the background helping to create such disagreements. The point is, we all need to work together, and the name calling is not serving the cause.”

Well, if there is a puppet master, he is certainly more benign than the pupper master (perhaps himself) who stirred up religious strife in the bloody wars of religion that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is estimated that the Thirty Years War from 1618-1648 resulted in the loss of up to a third of the population of the German states.

Let the republicans commit suicide over religion. While I don’t like Obama, since the neocons and corporate welfare mavens took over the republicans, they now make only the barest pretence toward being consevative.

Let them die quickly and clear the field for a genuninely conservative, America-first party to succeed them.

Can you imagine the nerve of the Republican Party even thinking of nominating a “Yankee”? Heaven forbid. You mean the party that represented the South and defended slavery during the Civil War actually turning its back on its base by nominating a damn Yankee? That will be the day. It will never happen.

Jane Marple’s precocious assessment of this entire “puppetry” feud is right on the mark. However, her own acknowledgment of the neocons and corporate hand behind this puppetry is what makes her noble wishes for a “genuinely-conservative” victory utterly impossible. At least in our conceivable lifetime. This journal and its erudite blog serves to only enlighten the ones who choose logic & truth; it will not, thanks to being out-of-the-mainstream, never influence change.

Mormonism is not historic Christianity, true enough. But we are not electing a theologian-in-chief. We are electing a President. My fellow evangelicals, through their misguided primary votes for Huckabee in 2008, were largely responsible for the nomination of McCain and his inevitable doomed campaign. This evangelical will say alongside Martin Luther, “I’d rather be governed by a competent Turk than an incompetent Christian.”
Romney may not be an adherent of historic Christianity. But he is a good and decent man as far as civic virtue and social values are concerned, and I think he is also competent and will keep his nose clean. He is infinitely preferable to professed Christian Barack Hussein Obama, who is no Christian, nor is he a Muslim. Obama is a secular relativist in moral terms, a redistributionist and socialist in economic terms, and nobody at all in theological terms, and needs to be defeated.
Romney will definitely be better than Obama, and may actually be a great president. He has this evangelical’s attention and respect, although I remain undecided about who will get my primary vote.
It won’t be Ron Paul or John Huntsman. Romney, Perry, Cain, Bachman, and Santorum are all fine candidates – any one of them would be preferable to Obama. Romney is in the strongest position right now in terms of organization and money, and conservatives had better remember that politics is the theatre of the possible, in which the perfect is often the enemy of the good. We could do a lot worse than Romney.

“Can you imagine the nerve of the Republican Party even thinking of nominating a “Yankee”? Heaven forbid. You mean the party that represented the South and defended slavery during the Civil War actually turning its back on its base by nominating a damn Yankee? That will be the day. It will never happen.”

Boy, I hope you’re being sarcastic because you know full well like I do both parties have marched down and occupied each other’s mountain

I just don’t understand why people are making so much of Romney’s Mormon religion. I was raised as a Catholic and I can’t see that belief in Joseph Smith’s story about the white salamander is any more incredible than some of the things that I was told that I had to believe in order to be saved. Read the Baltimore Catechism. If you can swallow that, then why not the white salamander and all the rest of it?

Christianity is the greatest sect of all
It is 2000 years old therefore 2000 years heavier with prejudice against human reason than some of the newly established ones
You can easily picture its beginnings on the street of Rome preaching to Roman to turn other cheek to barbarians
Unfortunately Romans did not take seriously enough these eulogizers of human miseries
So1000 years of dark ages ensued and not before the Renaissance did human mind free itself from its dogmas

As a non-religious person, I would have to say that the religious war in the Republican party is a liability, certainly to the party, but also to the country at large. I do not believe it is in the best interest of the country to legislate based on religious beliefs; the chief executive’s job should be to pursue policy that is as religiously neutral as possible.

As far as Romney’s Mormonism is concerned, I actually think that, if he can make it past the primary, it is a positive quality, because he will have the unique perspective of understanding what it is to be in a minority group. He also seems to be the most measured of the candidates.

Apologies, but I must respond to Rebecca, re: “Ultimately all of these churches are on the same page when it comes to fighting the growing tyranny of militant atheism, globalization, decline of our schools and artistic culture, the decline of the family, the Culture of Death (abortion, endless foreign wars), etc.”

I feel there is some incongruity here. I disagree with the idea that militant atheism constitutes tyranny. Atheists value freedom as much as anyone, perhaps more so. All of my atheist friends see globalization as a potentially destructive trend, and decry the state of education, the arts, and strong families. Lastly, I appreciate the intellectual consistency that places war in the same category as abortion. However, I do not think they are equivalent things. Perhaps you could take solace in the knowledge that even the most militant pro-choice liberal atheist could easily share the goal of making abortion as infrequent as possible. We would simply rather it not revert to what it was before, a tragedy that occurred anyway, without standards, regulation or safety.

Lastly, I would like to say that I value TAC’s take on things – it’s a breath of fresh air in the current climate.

A person’s religious beliefs are aprivate matter, and should have no bearing on fittness for public office. Mormons are a hard working, patriotic group who provide this country with professional military officers, and FBI agents. To deny an individual access to public office solely on the basis of his religion would be to our detriment.

Over the years, I’ve learned a thing or two about the LDS church. What you hear from Mormons is rarely ever accurately repeated by non-Mormons. I suppose this was all going to come out eventually, and it may work out for the best for Romney. If it gets really ugly, and he stays above it, Dem’s may avoid the matter for fear of being associated with the likes of Jeffress.

For some reason, I have this hunch that Romney is less conventional than his campaign platform. Maybe it’s his history of selecting stances that are appropriate for the moment. I know there are very few who will agree with me, but I find his lack of a true political dogma to be somehow reassuring.